Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, children of all ages….Mansfield proudly brings to you, the 7th Grade Undefeated Champions of the Wooooooorld! Ok, maybe not the world, but at least in the 3A-1 conference also adding Waldron and Lavaca to that list. The 7th Grade Tigers massacred teams from Paris, West Fork, Greenland, Charleston, Booneville, Lamar, Waldron, Lavaca, and most recently Cedarville leaving Mansfield to close out its season with a flawless 9-0 record.
Playing in yet another cold and rainy football game, the Tigers were unfazed by their surroundings. Their only focus was on the Pirates, who after spending the entire game being used as mops by the Tigers, were only allowed to put 6 points on the board. The game was over in the blink of an eye with Mansfield walking away with a final score of 28-6.
Cedarville started out thinking they were going to pull a fast one over on Mansfield by scoring first but Toby Towe had other plans in mind. With a run spanning almost the entire length of the field he knocked out the first Tiger touchdown and the tone was set. The Pirates responded with their own touchdown but unfortunately for them, that would be the only time they would get to see endzone paydirt.
Brandon Raynor added his own long run to bring the Tigers closer to their goal and setting Trey Powell up to deliver the pain with another Tiger touchdown. Quarterback, Jeremy Strozier, rushed for the two-point conversion and the score sat at 14-6 Mansfield. The Pirates offense was delivering some nice yardage but a fumble would put the ball back in the Tigers hands allowing Austin Oldham to tack on another touchdown for the Tigers. Another two-point Strozier rush and Mansfield walked into halftime up 22-6.
The Tigers came back from halftime in full force ready to close shop. The Pirates ran into a few miscues that the Tigers were able to capitalize on in the second half. Powell was able to intercept Cedarvilles ball and Strozier would recover a Pirate fumble. With the end of the game nearing, Oldham added a touchdown cherry to the Tigers sundae ending the game 28-6 Mansfield.
The Tigers offensive and defensive lines were on par the entire season as well. With their powerful blocks helping to open the way for the Tiger running backs to their colossal sacks shutting down the opposing teams’ offense around every corner. At the end of the day, the 7th Grade Tigers’ success is all due to eight letters. Teamwork!
It took the entire roster of Brandon Raynor, Leland Powell, Austin Ruiz, Austin Oldham, Jeremy Strozier, Cisco Fildes, Boston Elmore, Eli Garner, Winston Allison, Andrew Pettigrew, Dakota Deer, Trey Powell, James Olinghouse, Toby Towe, Zach Chapman, Camden Nottingham, and Greg Raynor to keep pushing each other forward into greatness no matter how frustrating things got at times. Next years opponents should already be shaking in their boots because this team is going to be a force to be reckoned with.
